1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the continuous manufacture of a food product and, more particularly, to the continuous manufacture of a multi-colored and multi-flavored food product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Consumers, especially children, enjoy food products with colorful and attractive design patterns. For instance, some ice cream novelties and popsicles have decorative patterns consisting of layers or regions of different color and/or flavors. To maintain the desired multi-color and/or multi-flavored pattern, the colors and/or flavors must remain separate with minimal mixing or blending.
To supply the consumer desire for multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food products, the food products industry has developed methods for manufacturing these food products. One conventional method of manufacturing multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food products consists of joining two or more layers of solid material. For example, some multi-colored and/or multi-flavored ice cream confections and popsicles are manufactured by filling separate molds with various liquid or semi-solid colored ice creams or ices. By freezing the molds, the ice creams or ices solidify within their molds. Removing these solids from their molds and joining them together creates the multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food product.
Another conventional method for manufacturing multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food products consists of joining two or more layers of semi-solid materials. For example, some multi-colored and/or multi-flavored ice cream confections are manufactured by extruding streams of differently colored or flavored ice creams in their plastic, semi-solid or semi-frozen state from nozzles. When the ice creams in their semi-solid state contact, they do not mix or run together but remain as distinct layers. Additional multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food products manufactured by joining semi-solid materials are multi-colored and multi-flavored chewing gum and aerated confections. The conventional method for manufacturing chewing gum and aerated confections consists of extruding strands or ropes of semi-solid material from nozzles. The individual strands or ropes are then joined together without mixing of the colors and/or flavors.
Another multi-colored or multi-flavored food product with distinct regions of color and/or flavor is variegated or ripple ice cream. The conventional method of manufacturing variegated ice cream blends fluid chocolate into semi-frozen ice cream. When the fluid chocolate contacts the semi-frozen ice cream, the fluid chocolate hardens preventing mixing of the colors and/or flavors.
Another manufacturing method producing multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food products uses special colorants that do not mix or run together. For example, special water-soluble colorants and complexing agents produce multi-colored and multi-layer gelled products, such as gelatin desserts. To provide the distinct patterns, the complexing agents prevent the colorants from migrating within the gelled layer.
Cheese is a food product where physical appearance plays an important part in its consumer acceptability. Multi-colored cheese with an attractive design pattern especially appeals to children. One conventional method of manufacturing multi-colored and/or multi-flavored cheese is to combine two solid cheeses. For example, a star-shaped portion of two differently colored cheese wheels is removed from their respective cheese wheel and substituted into the center of the other cheese wheel. The resulting multi-colored cheese wheels have a star-shaped center of a different color cheese. The main problem with this method is that it is slow, labor intensive and costly.
Another contemporary method of manufacturing multi-colored and/or multi-flavored cheese combines two differently colored and/or flavored, semi-solid cheese curds. The resulting cheese product has a variegated, mottled appearance. The main problem with this method is that the variegated cheese has random blended colors that are not in a distinct pattern or design. Additionally, after the semi-solid cheese curds are mixed, the cheese must be shaped, solidified and packaged.
Individual process cheese slices are a cheese product which appeal to consumers, especially children. However, contemporary apparatus for manufacturing individual process cheese slices produces cheese slices of a single color and/or flavor. One conventional apparatus for manufacturing single color and/or single flavor cheese slices is the hot pack single-slice packaging apparatus. In the hot pack apparatus, an extrusion nozzle discharges molten cheese into a film tube. The film tube moves away from the nozzle at a steady rate to allow the film tube to fill with the cheese product. Sizing rolls flatten the longitudinally sealed film tube and the molten cheese product to a desired product thickness. To solidify the cheese, the cheese-filled film tube moves over cooling wheels that cool the cheese. To produce the individual cheese slices, the cooled cheese tube is transversely cut and sealed. One disadvantage of the contemporary hot pack apparatus is that it only produces cheese slices of a single color and/or flavor.
Another contemporary apparatus for manufacturing individual cheese slices of a single color and/or single flavor is the chill roll single-slice apparatus. In the chill roll apparatus, molten cheese fills a hopper to a desired level. The molten cheese then flows out of the hopper onto a large, chilled, cylindrical roll. A sizing roll flattens the cheese product on the chill roll into a cheese sheet with a desired product thickness. The chill roll cools the continuous sheet of warm cheese as it moves along with the rotating roll. Once the cheese sheet has solidified, it is removed from the chill roll and slit to form continuous ribbons. A cutting assembly transversely cut the ribbons of cheese into individual cheese slices which are then stacked and wrapped in packaging for sale to consumers. One shortcoming of the contemporary chill roll apparatus is that it only produces cheese slices of a single color and/or flavor.
Thus, a need has arisen for a new method and apparatus for manufacturing of a multi-colored and/or multi-flavored food product, especially cheese slices, which will efficiently provide the food product with a distinct pattern or design while preventing the colors or flavors from substantially mixing.